Lagavulin Jazz Festival 2015 55.4% NV

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Serge Valentin (91)

No vintage or age that I can spot this time, jazz is timeless. Matured in both American and European ‘bodega’ oak casks. Bodega doesn’t obligatorily mean ‘Spanish’, in case you’re wondering. They have bagpipes in Spain, why couldn’t they have bodegas in Scotland? Colour: white wine, which comes as a surprise. Nose: it is a very bright, clean, punchy young Lagavulin, rather in the style of the popular 12yo CS. Seawater, lime, lemon, hessian, cigar smoke, seaweed, oysters, whelks, razor clams, cockles, mussels, langoustines… I’m joking! With water: damp raw wool and Islay mud. Mouth (neat): exceptionally clean, crisp, lemony and smoky malt, one hundred percent spirit-driven as far as I can tell, pristine, salty, kippery… So, a blade. As often, it’s just a notch sweeter and fatter than its colleagues from the south shore, and we aren’t against that. With water: salt up, tar up, fish down. A little more austere now. Finish: long, with a perfect tarriness, and no sweetness whatsoever this time. Comments: there was more sherry in earlier ‘Jazz’ Lagavulins. Now, I’m a sucker for both styles.

Words of Whisky (91)

Whiskynotes:

Nose: a nicely fatty nose, punchy like the 12 Year Old but slightly rounder, more honeyed and toffeed. Lime juice. Leather. Some seaweed, oysters and iodine but less smoke than the regular 16yo. Nice, it’s raw but refined at the same time. Mouth: same feeling of punchy peat and crystal-clean lemons, but also toffee sweetness and vanilla cream to round off the edges. Great balance. Berries in the background with dried fruits. Sharper, kippery hints as well. Leathery notes, a spicy oakiness and some malty mocha towards the end. Finish: long, tarry but also elegant and a bit more smoky now.
This Lagavulin unites the bourbon character with the sweeter sherry profile. The 12yo is at the base of this, but this is better – well done.